A Vision for the Future :
New Director of Special Collections Shares Ideas
In December 2016 , the University of Wisconsin – Madison Libraries welcomed David Pavelich as the new Director of Special Collections and Archives . He sat down to discuss his vision for the future of Special Collections .
By Erin Doherty
Erin Doherty : What is your background ?
David Pavelich : I went to school at UW – Madison . As an undergraduate , I earned an English degree , with a focus on modernist and postmodern poetry . This brought me to the world of special collections libraries . I later went to Buffalo and received my master ’ s in English , but I came back to Madison for my library degree . As I was in library school , I worked in Special Collections , the Preservation Department , and Digital Collections . I landed my first professional job at the University of Chicago in their special collections library . Eventually , I went to Duke , and now I ’ m back in Madison !
ED : What does your position at the Libraries entail ?
DP : I ’ m in a new position , which oversees four libraries : Special Collections , University Archives , the Kohler Art Library , and the Mills Music Library . I get to work with art , music , rare books , and manuscript collections , which is a perfect combination of my passions .
ED : What are the challenges facing special collections libraries ?
DP : Academic libraries are focused in two main directions . One is increasing digital access to information , which can take many forms , for instance access to data and digitizing locally-held collections . The other focus is unique collections that distinguish one library from another . Often you enter an academic library and a lot of the books you find in the stacks , you ’ re going to find in the libraries of our peers , like the University of Minnesota or Indiana University . But it ’ s the unique collections that help us distinguish ourselves . They don ’ t have to be just “ special collections ” in the sense of rare books — there are many kinds of distinctive collections . I think it ’ s a good time for special collections libraries .
ED : What do you hope to accomplish ?
DP : I have a long list ! In the short term , I want to know if we ’ re using the most up-todate tools to do our work . We need to make sure our collections are discoverable , not just by the local community , but globally .
8 | LIBRARIES Summer 2017
Us!
The Office of the Gender and Women’s
Studies Librarian Celebrates 40 Years of
Feminist Librarianship
I
n 2006 the University of Wisconsin–
Madison Libraries established a partnership
with Google to digitize books and make them
available online. Now after a brief break, that
partnership is being re-established.
The new effort is focused on the
digitization of government publications and
materials that are out of copyright. All items
will be stored in both Google Books and
HathiTrust, an online repository established
in 2008, by UW–Madison and several peer
institutions.
UW–Madison Librarian Heather
Weltin, who is the Director of Collection
Management and Resource Sharing, said the
Libraries currently send about 10,000 items to
Google every month. The effort is expected to
continue through 2018.
“We have three staff devoted fully to
this project,” she said. “They send a semi
truck full of materials out each month. It’s
a labor-intensive process to get these things
ready, but the Libraries are committed to it.
It’s a really important effort, not just for our
campus, but beyond.”
Weltin also said that the partnership gives
the Libraries the help they need to digitize
materials in the most efficient way possible.
Above and Top Right
Staff load books for the Google Books project.
14 | LIBRARIES Summer 2017
I
“[The partnership] is a way to archive
these materials and make them available
in a way that we wouldn’t be able to afford
ourselves,” she said. “Digitization is a huge
and costly undertaking for libraries, and it’s
something that we couldn’t do on our own.
By participating in the Google Books project
and HathiTrust, we’re able to get this work
done and retain these items in a way that we
wouldn’t be able to otherwise.”
Associate University Librarian for
Collections and Research Services Doug Way
said that having the materials digitized will
be of great benefit to researchers both on and
off the UW–Madison campus.
“The real benefit, as far as the digitized
materials that don’t have copyright
restrictions, are that people will be able to
access them around the world,” he said.
More information about the project can
be found at Google Books and the HathiTrust
online library.
(books.google.com/googlebooks/library /
www.hathitr \��ܙˊB��NM��\��X�[K�Y��X��\�X[��[�YZ[�\��]ܜ�Xܛ���B�[�]�\��]Hو�\��ۜ�[��\�[H�X��ۚ^�YH�YY�Y[�Y�H[��ܙ�[�^�H�\��\��\�[�H[Y\��[���Y[و��Y[��&\��YY\�H�]�\�[K]�YH��][ۈ8�%��Y[��&\��YY\�X��\�X[�X]S\��H8�%�\][��Y�܈H��^YX\��X[\�[��\�^�][���]���H�YYY�H�[Y�H��Y[ۙH�]^\�\�H��[��[Z[�\����Y[��&\��YY\[�[�X��\�H[�[��ܛX][ۈ��Y[��K�\�\��[�[X[�\�Y]�YX\��X�[YHH�\���\�[K]�YH��Y[��&\��YY\�X��\�X[���ۛB�[��\��ۜ�[��][�H��[��K��]��^YX\�[���ܘ[H�X�[YHH
^YX\��X��\��HB�X��\�X[��&\�ٙ�X�H�Z[�Y\�X[�[��]\�[�\��Y[��\�Y��[�X[H�][�HU��$�XY\�۸�&\��[�\�[X��\�H�\�[H]�\���[��K�\�\��[�[X[��\�����Y�H[�H\��\��YH�X\�[��[��[\��X[��Z\ؘ\���\�H��[�H�\��[�X��\�X[�\��]�Y�[��Lˈ\�ٙ�X�H�[XZ[��HۛH�\�[]�YH��ܘ[H[�B�[�]Y�]\�YX�]Y��[�\�[���Y[��&\��YY\����\��\�[�X��\�X[��\��H�X�X[�X�\[ۈ��[X��]HH[�X\��[��]�\��\�H�\[[�\�[[��ۚ�[��[ۈ�]H[��X[
��[[Z]ۈ��Y[���[�\�[��[�Z[�˂�����܈[ܙHۈH
[��]�\��\�H[�H\�ܞHوB��[�\�[���Y[��&\��YY\�X��\�X[��\[�H�[�M�\��YHوB�X��\�Y\˂�[�]�\��]Hو�\��ۜ�[��$�XY\�ۈM